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Unravel

Barrenjoey Road 02 | Suspicious Minds

Unravel

ABC Australia

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

0.00 Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2018

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Trudie Adams was last seen hitching a ride home from a dance in Newport on Sydney’s northern beaches. The last known person to see her alive was her boyfriend, Steve Norris. Or more accurately, her soon to be ex-boyfriend.

Police label Steve as a person of interest in the days following Trudie’s disappearance. The couple were in the process of breaking up. There were rumours of an argument. Trudie already had a crush on someone else... could this be a motive?

Then there was Trudie’s upcoming trip to Bali and a strange link to a drug dealer known for bringing back marijuana from there. Could Trudie’s death have something to do with drugs?

Journalist Ruby Jones tracks down Steve Norris and the original detective on the case to re-examine what happened in the days immediately following Trudie’s disappearance.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is an ABC podcast.

0:05.0

If you haven't heard episode one of Baron Joey Road, go back and start with that.

0:10.3

Also a warning, from here on in, this podcast goes to some dark places.

0:17.5

When Trudy Adams disappeared from the side of Baron Joey Road in 1978,

0:22.6

local police quickly realised that they needed backup.

0:26.6

Just a few days after she was reported missing,

0:29.6

a homicide detective in the centre of Sydney got the call.

0:33.6

Yes, well, we were in the office at the old C.I.B. I think it was in Smith Street.

0:39.5

And we were told it was a missing female on the northern beaches.

0:43.9

Gary Matthews is tall and friendly. Like a lot of detectives back then, he was a smoker with a moustache.

0:51.8

He's still got the moustache.

0:53.5

I was sent over there. I did to go over and assist the local police

0:58.0

and virtually take charge of the initial investigations.

1:03.7

In his entire career, Gary Matthews only worked on three cases that remain unsolved.

1:10.2

This is one of them.

1:12.1

But as he drove north in 1978 to start his investigation,

1:17.1

he had no idea how tough this case would be to crack,

1:21.1

or what sort of a world he was about to enter.

1:25.0

Yeah, I didn't know much about the northern beaches,

1:31.2

so I wasn't up to date with the local culture at all.

1:33.1

I soon learnt, of course.

1:38.4

It was more a village atmosphere still over there, around the Avalon-Newport area.

...

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